Osteopathy, Sports Massage, Pilates and Wellbeing

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5 Top Tips to avoid pain this winter:

Wrap up warm – Keeping your muscles warm when its cold outside will stop them from building up tension, especially if you are prone to neck pain and headaches – make sure you are wearing a scarf.

Party feet – Making sure you are wearing the right foot wear is essential all year round. This is party season and those special shoes can come out for your Christmas do but make sure the rest of the time you have shoes that support your feet – if you aren’t sure speak with one of the Osteopaths.

Don’t go into hibernation! – When its cold outside you may be tempted to curl up under a warm blanket with a hot drink, but keeping active is essential for keeping your joints flexible and reducing aches and pains.

Eat right – stock up on seasonal fruit and veg to make sure you are getting all the essential goodness into your bodies. Its also party season so enjoy yourself, all in moderation!

Soak up the sun – The sun is still out there, most days! Its essential you spend time in it allowing your body to soak up some vitamin which is necessary for keeping bones strong and other bodily functions. Add a few brisk walks into your day.

The theme of INSAD17 is ‘Speak Up and Speak Out About Stress!’ and here at The Oast we want to do just that!

What is stress?

If the demands of a situation exceed our ability to cope and adapt then this results in stress. The situation could be positive or negative, but either way, if it puts too much strain on our coping mechanisms and reserves then we will experience stress. The point at which stress is experienced is different for everyone; some people are able to cope with a lot of different demands all at once without feeling stressed, whilst others may begin to experience stress after one unexpected change in routine for example. This is OK, we are all individuals and we should embrace this fact. The main important thing is that we notice when we are stressed and have options available to us to help us deal with this stress to prevent it affecting our daily life or making us unwell.

What are some of the signs of stress?

Again, this is different for different people. Common signs and symptoms of stress include headaches, migraines and gastrointestinal symptoms such as indigestion or upset stomach. You may experience muscular aches and pains too, or have difficulty falling or staying asleep. Some people find they are irritable and snappy with friends and loved ones and people have also described feeling that their mind is racing and that they can’t think clearly.

Why is it important to reduce stress?

Stress can have a negative impact on daily life, affecting our relationships and our ability to enjoy life. In some cases, prolonged stress can lead to depression, so it is important to seek support and develop coping strategies that work for you. Physically, stress can also be harmful and is linked to conditions such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and impaired immunity.

What can I do?

It’s important for you to recognise your own personal limits and signs that you are stressed. Often people are unaware that they have been experiencing stress until symptoms are quite pronounced and often this can mean it takes longer to feel better.

Our 6-week Mindfulness Well-being Courses are specifically designed to assist you in becoming more self-aware. You will be more aware of what stress feels like for you, what your particular stress triggers are and what relaxation and mindfulness techniques suit you best. You’ll then be able to take action at an early stage, nipping stress in the bud before it takes over! The courses are set in a relaxed, supportive and friendly atmosphere and the content is designed to allow you to experience a wide range of relaxation and mindfulness exercises so that you can identify what works best for you!

Want to know more?

Why not try one of our Mindfulness Well-being Taster Sessions? These are run every month and give you a taste of some of the relaxation and mindfulness exercises that we can teach you. If you are interested, please give us a call on 01795 437710 to book your place today!

A Passion for Pilates

Most people who know me, will know that once I start talking about Pilates, I find it hard to stop. When I am asked “how can it benefit me?” – the list is endless and the beauty is that actually, I believe Pilates can be tailored to suit your needs and goals whatever your situation. Whether you are a fitness fanatic, pregnant, a new mum or even suffering with chronic pain, it is very likely that Pilates can work for you and help you become a stronger, more balanced individual.

So for all the patients I see week in and out for Sports Massage, I am also thinking “you know what will help you..Pilates!” And I think I can confidently say that those who have taken me up on this new experience have been better for it.

I love seeing the joy and happiness of a patient who can now touch their toes since joining a class, or simply just watching a patient walk out the room taller because they have become more aware of their posture. I am currently working 1:1 with a lady who has suffered nearly her whole life with chronic back pain – even after our first session she was amazed how much better she could move and weeks on she is almost going a whole week without pain!

When I first tried Pilates, I was in a large class in a leisure centre where it all happened quite fast and I wasn’t sure what I was doing – or if I was doing it correctly. I tried Pilates again when starting work at The Oast, in a small group where I was taught how to properly find and engage my core and started to realise what it was all about. I could feel muscles working I hadn’t noticed before!

I soon realised that Pilates was a skill I not only wanted to master, but to be able to teach and pass on to others. Pilates has benefited me by keeping me
aware of good posture, especially when I am doing Sports Massage. I have also been able to work out my own muscle weaknesses and use Pilates to re-balance and re-engage muscles to work more efficiently. This has helped me to keep a good technique when working in the gym and when pursuing my recent triathlon events!

I
feel very lucky to have found a passion that I get to perform not just as leisure but as my job too. So this blog is not to tell you to do Pilates, but to encourage you to find your passion, what makes you get excited and want to get out of bed in the morning – and involve it in your life everyday

At Oast Osteopathy we are getting ever more excited about summer coming. Not only does it mean we finally get that Vitamin D boost our bodies have been craving for so long but it also encourages us to get up, get out and get moving!

The weather is far better for golfing, outdoor tennis, running and cycling but as we have perhaps let our bodies languish over the winter, so the aches and pain appear as we reintroduce ourselves to our favourite pastimes again.

Getting ready for summer

A check-up at your local osteopathy clinic could be just the cure you need. A full service body check will help identify areas that have been neglected over winter and to relax and strengthen those underused muscles. Whether it’s that annoyingly constant niggle in your shoulder joint or painful twinge in your lower back, your Oast Osteopath will use gentle manual techniques help balance all parts of your body to promote overall good health and well-being.

Our customers are always amazed when we come across and help relieve tense muscles and stiff joints, you will be surprised how much you not only get used to but how much you no longer notice those little physical idiosyncracies that creep up after a period of inactivity.

Think of it as a factory reset as you feel your body’s nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems begin to spring back into positive action again. You’ll have that spring in your step in no time!

If you’d like to know more about our check-ups please give us a call on 01795 43 77 10, we’d love to answer any of your questions.

6 Benefits of Pilates

Pilates as an exercise form was the brainchild of Joseph Pilates, a fitness enthusiast from Germany. Joseph’s main objective was to create an effective form of conditioning which would promote core strength and flexibility in a safe manner.

Pilates focuses on the core but is very effective at not only improving strength all over the body but at improving mental functioning.

Here are 6 of the main benefits of Pilates.

Pilates helps improve back pain and bad posture

Find yourself hunched over your computer all the time? Finding you frequently have back or neck pain? Pilates can help strengthen those under-used muscles by stabilising the core’s lumbar-pelvic region and encourage alignment of your spine. This will help you sit up straighter and ward off chronic pain in the future.

Pilates acts as a gentle introduction or reintroduction to exercise

If you have been away from exercise for too long either due to ill health or injury. Pilates can act as a gentle conduit to reconditioning and retraining your body again. Pilates takes the focus off the injured areas of your body and what you can’t do, and focuses on what you can do. You can take small steps to start off with and gradually increase effort as your body becomes used to the exercise.

Pilates doesn’t add pressure to knees or joints

Hooray an exercise that makes your joints feel better not worse! Pilates consists of slow and controlled movements, low impact and low intensity which means that people of all ages can join in.

Pilates helps increase flexibility

In one particular study held in Brazil, a group of young women (without any Pilates experience) were asked to perform a sequence of 20 Pilates sessions. Each of these women were tested for flexibility in a series of tests at the end of the study and on average their flexibility had increased by a remarkable 19.1%. You will notice better flexibility in your back, hip and hamstrings especially.

Pilates can help increase neural activity and memory performance

Pilates is not all about the body in fact Joseph Pilates was known to refer to it as the “thinking man’s exercise”. It encourages precison, concentration and memorisation by building foundational principles that produce mindful movements.. These five foundation principles are Awareness/Control, Concentration, Breath, Flow, Precision and Centering. You can rest assured that every Pilates session will move you one step forward to feeling smarter and stronger.

Pilates can improve your sport performance

If you are a keen tennis player or golfer you may not know it but will lean towards a muscle imbalance due to the one-sided nature of these sports. As with you posture, Pilates will help strengthen your weaker underused muscled while helping relax your tight overworked muscled, encouraging symmetry and alignment.

Our team of instructors at The Oast work to ensure classes are working with your specific needs and the small classes or 1:1’s mean you will get the most out of your sessions. If you’d like to book into one of our sessions just call us on 01795 43 77 10 or book online here.

Osteopathy

Many people are aware that osteopathy can be successful at treating back pain but were you aware that osteopathy can also be effective at treating many other aches, pains and injuries?

You may not know that the prefix ‘osteo’ comes from the Greek word for bone and ‘pathy’ which means suffering, disease or disorder. This description can be in reference to a wide variety of ailments and as such osteopathy has a diverse number of applications. It acts as a safe, natural and gentle form of treatment which focuses on releasing the tensions in the muscles and joints and tissues.

Here are some other examples of how osteopathic treatment can be helpful.

Headaches or Migraines

If you have been experiencing sharp and recurring headaches, your neck may actually be the real cause even if your neck seems to be pain free.

Your osteopath is trained in effectively assessing and treating headaches that are a result of neck injury. They will be able to use a combination of techniques to help gently manipulate the joints and muscles around your neck which can prove be far more effective than medicated relief as the consistent use of pain relief medication can often be the cause of headaches in the first place.

Arthritis

Arthritis is inflammation and degeneration of the joints which can be particularly painful and unrelenting. Different parts of the body can be affected such as the pelvis, hip and back and these can often have an impact on each other. For example an arthritic hip can cause problems with posture which can then put pressure on the knee.

Osteopathic treatment does not by any means cure the actual arthritis but what it can do is help reduce the pain and improve the range of movement in the joint to help make the pain less noticable.

Tennis or golfer’s elbow

In other words, a repetitive strain injury in the extensor muscles of the forearm. This type of injury is usually caused by improper technique (sorry if that’s not what you wanted to hear!)
Your osteopath can help not only diagnose the injury but can also provide you with a course of treatment in order to relax the muscles in the forearm, in the form of massage. They will also be able to provide you with some exercises that will help stretch and strengthen the forearm too. You will be back in the swing of things in no time!

Contact Us

These are just some examples of the aches and pains your osteopath can help diagnose and treat. If you’d like to speak to someone then give your Oast osteopath a call today on 01795 43 77 10 or contact us here

This year’s Backcare Awareness Week is 5th-11th October and its focussing on back care in children.

Children don’t tend to suffer as frequently as adults with back injuries. However, activities that children participate in may set up muscular skeletal patterns that influence their posture in later life. Simple things such as carrying heavy school bags and doing homework lying on their bed can have significant effects on a child’s back.

In this blog we are looking at school aged children. Here are a few tips to help your child:

The over full school bag: Make sure that your child is only carrying the essential books or equipment each day. Empty out the unnecessary items from their school bag in preparation for the next day.

The cool school bag: School bags are getting heavier and in order to protect the symmetry of theback muscles it should be worn on both shoulders, ideally a rucksack. As much as children protest that its not cool to wear a ruck sack it is a much healthier option regarding spinal health.

The trendy school shoes: Foot wear is very important, when the feet are supported well there are less strains throughout the back, hips and knees. Look out for the wear patten onthe bottom of shoes which, if not symmetrical, can indicate muscular skeletal imbalances. Shoes should be good supportive, often ones that have laces or Velcro will be more supportive than any slip on style.

The comfy homework position: The same way that office workers need an ergonomic desk assessment so too do all children doing their homework. A designated ‘desk’ area should be created with a good supportive chair. The computer needs to be set up to the correct height for each child. Positions such as lying on the bed. floor or slouching on the sofa should be avoided completely.

The active student: The spine is designed to move, so sitting in a position for long periods of time is not advised. taking regular breaks from home work and TV/ computer based activities is recommended. Encouraging children to take up a sport or physical activity is a great way to ensure good spinal health.

Here at The Oast we are offering £10 off an initial appointment for children under 16. Make an appointment to see one of our Osteopaths who will be able to assess for any imbalances in the muscular-skeletal system and give advice on how to correct and manage any issues.

Osteopathy is a holistic manual therapy that treats all patients as individuals. It dosn’t just address the symptoms, it evaluates all aspects of a presenting condition, looking for the cause. Osteopaths believe that symptoms often hide the underlying cause of disease.

By looking at the relationship between the bodies structure and function (the joints, muscles, ligaments, bones and connective tissue), Osteopaths are able to assess the whole pattern of aches, pains and general health problems.

Any change to the structure of the body will affect the function within its organs and tissues. Compensations gradually build up and forces alter the function of the body, creating strains on the body tissues and affecting joint mobility. Gradually the body becomes under more strain and it may break down at the weakest part – even as a result of something quite minor. Headaches, for example, may result from a lower back or foot-related problem of which the patient may not even be aware. Osteopathic patients benefit because the underlying cause of the problem is treated.

Osteopathy restores normal movement in areas that have become dysfunctional. This allows for the restoration of normal function and enables the tissues to repair themselves more naturally.

While immediate pain relief is an important consideration, the final aim of Osteopathy is to get patients well and to maintain their well being.